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Forza Motorsport 5 is going free this weekend for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. You’ll also need an Xbox One to get in on the action, which starts at 12:01am on Friday and ends on Sunday night. During that timeframe, you’ll be able to download Forza Motorsport 5 and play it to your hearts content for the weekend, including all single-player and multiplayer content. DLC add-ons don’t come as part of the deal, but still, this is basically like a free rental.

All US residents who spend time playing Forza Motorsport 5 during the free weekend are entered to win a three-day trip to the Forza Motorsport Grand Prix Road Racing Class to be held at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.

So, who jumping in to Forza to help pass the time until Destiny arrives next week?

For a peek behind-the-scenes of Forza Motorsport 5, check out our video after the break.

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On the heels of the recent February Xbox One update, Microsoft is now rolling out the big March Xbox One Dashboard update that brings with is a ton of new features and optimizations. Most are focused on the multiplayer and party chat features, but there's a lot more to it than that. If you've got your eyes peeled looking for that Twitch.tv live streaming feature, that one's not ready quite yet. You'll have to wait until March 11th, when the feature launches alongside the release of Titanfall. We're also still waiting on the external hard drive support, which Microsoft says is coming, but has yet to give any solid release date for.

To see the list of what's in the March Xbox One Dashboard update, hit the jump to see the video and feature play-by-play. Also, don't miss our look at the elusive white Xbox One console!

We're big fans of crazy GoPro footage, and we know a lot of you are, too. Soon, you'll be able to access a bunch more GoPro content by way of Xbox Live. Today, Microsoft announced that it has teamed up with GoPro, and will launch a GoPro channel on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

“Our GoPro Channel app will make it easy for millions of global Xbox Live customers to watch GoPro originally-produced and ‘best of’ user-generated content on their televisions at home,” GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman said in a press release. “We’re excited to align ourselves with Microsoft and the Xbox brand as we believe our customers share the same desire to enjoy the type of immersive, experiential content that our cameras enable.”

Wanna check out this library of cool content? You'll have to wait a bit--the GoPro Xbox 360 app will launch sometime this spring, while the Xbox One version won't arrive until the summer.

Today Microsoft gave us a look at the upcoming Xbox One friends list, which lets you add up to 1,000 friends (10 times more than the original Xbox and Xbox 360 limit of 100) and also lets you follow other users similar to what you'd do on Twitter. Microsoft is letting you decide what your Xbox Live friends and followers are able to see and how each can interact with you through privacy controls.

Microsoft's Larry Hryb (Xbox Live's Major Nelson) walks us through the interface--achievements, video uploads, followers and friends, recent activity, and the live feed--in the Friends App on Xbox One walkthrough, which we'd included for you after the jump.

Earlier this morning Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, the follow-up to its 8-year-old Xbox 360. After the jump, we've got a video where Microsoft Xbox executives discuss the new Xbox One console and what they believe makes it the best home console on the market. Check out the video, and let us know if you agree.

Windows super-fan Paul Thurrott, who has a good track record for internal Microsoft rumors, is sharing information that he has heard as it pertains to the launch window and pricing of the new Xbox (which we are assuming will be called Xbox Reveal or Infinity, but is codenamed Durango.) First, the next Xbox will launch in early November 2013, and will cost $499 out of the gate. Alternatively, you'll be able to pay $299 for the console if you also pay a $10 monthly subscription fee.

If this is true, then we imagine that this is where all of the hoopla over an "always-on" console is coming from. If you choose to go the subscription route, then your Xbox will likely need to be connected to the Internet in order to make sure the subscription is active. Piggybacking on that thought, maybe if you stop paying (or if you can't get the Xbox online,) then the Xbox will simply not let you play games until you are paid up or reconnect it to Xbox Live.

Other information shared include that the new console will ship with a Blu-ray drive, and will run on a modified version of Windows 8. We will have all the news as it happens when Microsoft unveils the next Xbox on May 21.

Microsoft has announced that it will reveal the next Xbox on May 21st at an event to take place at the Xbox campus in Redmond. Gamers have been patiently waiting for an announcement from Microsoft on the next Xbox (codenamed Durango,) especially after Sony announced the Playstation 4 at an event in February. The company says that the event will "mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV, and entertainment." Aside from inviting select press to be on hand, the event will also be broadcast as it happens on Xbox LIVE for all to see. It'll also be broadcast on SPike TV for those who are in the US or Canada.

Don't expect all the info on the next Xbox to be revealed on the 21st, though. Microsoft says that they'll wait about three weeks before announcing the full line-up of games, which it'll do at E3. There's a lot riding on the next Xbox, which follows up the current generations most successful console, the Xbox 360.

The big rumor on the street about the next Xbox is that Microsoft will block used games from working with the console. Reports from sources have hit various news outlets saying that the new Xbox, which should launch later this year, will require mandatory game installs to the hard drive of the console, and will require an activation code in order to get them to play. Once the code is used, that game is activated for that console specifically (or, maybe, that specific Gamertag,) and won't work on other consoles, effectively killing the used game market.

The Xbox Community Ambassador campaign now has five more tier levels added to it, which include awards ranging from free Avatar swag to the Xbox Live gamer spotlight. The Xbox Community Ambassador program rewards Xbox Live members who assist other members through chat or the forum, acting as a reputation system that awards XP that can be redeemed.

Microsoft has put together another custom-designed Xbox 360 console, this one celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Xbox Live. As you can see in the image above, it's a dark gray console with green and orange accents, and an "X" design papered all over the hardware. It's a great looking device to our eyes. It was announced on Twitter by Major Nelson, who confirmed that the company is giving these out to a number of Xbox Live members who've stuck around since the beginning.

I can confirm we’re surprising some of the #Xbox LIVE members that have been with us the longest with one of these mjr.mn/THwudE